Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport were briefed, on Thursday 2 December, on the state of play of the interinstitutional discussions (‘trilogue’) with the Council of the European Union on the implementation of the ‘Single European Sky (see EUROPE 12833/6).
“We had a very complicated second trilogue on 22 November. We have not succeeded in having a common opinion, even though we are quite close. It will be very difficult, but it will be better to negotiate with people who know the subject, during the upcoming French Presidency”, said the Single Sky rapporteur, Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP, Romania).
The interinstitutional negotiations were clearly no easier on the second part of the ‘Single European Sky’, which concerns the ability of the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to act as a performance review body.
“Every meeting is difficult. I ask the EU Council to see with the Member States whether it is possible to guarantee the independence of the agency while remaining under the EU umbrella”, explained Bogusław Liberadzki (S&D, Poland).
“We tried to find compromises, but to be honest, the Slovenian Presidency was not flexible. If you come to a trilogue with a text and are told ‘take it’, that is no way to negotiate”, concluded Jan-Christoph Oetjen (Renew Europe, Germany). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)